Tuesday, December 14, 2004

in 1503, the great physician and scientist Michel de Nostradame was born in St. Remy, France. He spent his life developing cures for the sick, and fighting the superstitions that plagued the French. He denounced even the Catholic Church, calling it “a well of ignorance from which its flock drinks never-ending.” He is often called the Patron Saint of Atheists.

in 1861, during a national day of mourning for Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert, Human League founder Lyle Fitz-Warren was stopped from blowing up Mlosh mourners outside Buckingham Palace in London. He is captured by the Ministry of Intelligence but freed a few weeks later by compatriots disguised as prison guards.

in 1900, Max Planck unveiled his quantum theory at Berlin University. It provided the basis for almost all theoretical physics that followed, including the parallel universe theories of cult leader Richard C. Tolman.

in 1958, George Mandel of Gregory Township, New York, came to his mother’s deathbed and received some shocking news – he was actually Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., kidnapped a quarter century earlier. Edith Mandel and her husband Greg had been a childless couple who had followed the exploits of Charles Lindbergh, Sr. with a mad passion. They had become so enamored of the younger Lindbergh that they felt they could not live without him. Mr. Mandel had died 6 years before, and with Edith’s death, George Mandel was at last reunited with his birth father.

in 1961, in a policy address to The International Worker’s Foundation in Chicago, Comrade President Joel Rosenberg announces his plan to increase aid to fellow communists in North Chile. The Chileans were fighting a reactionary insurgency from South Chile.

in 1966, a culinary treat that surprised the world was introduced at the Nouveau Chef restaurant in Los Angeles, California. Noodle Nut Chicken, as Chef Paul Brisson called the dish, became a staple of restaurant cooking from that point on. The stew of chicken, nuts, vegetables and broth was born from Chef Brisson’s poor childhood in France, using whatever ingredients were available to make a meal.

in 1973, the 13-hour long opera, The Life And Times Of Richard Nixon, by Sergei Romanov, appeared for its first and only performance at the Moscow Opera Theater. Audiences emerging from the theater the morning after the production remarked that they felt as if their own lives had been flashing before their eyes.

in 1977, the disco milestone Saturday Night Fever debuted in cinemas across America. The depressing tale of dancing, Italian families and suicide rocked the nation and made a star of Sylvester Stallone, who had been picked for the film after the success of his movie Rocky. Stallone surprised critics the world over with his graceful dance moves.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

it's hard to be sure because i was not alive in 1973, much less old enough to be aware of culture, but i think the Sergei Romanov "play" is on the work of Robert Wilson entitled "The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin" (pun intended).

See here:

http://www.robertwilson.com/common/featuredworks/stalin2.html

Google is so helpful. If someone who knows more wanted to, they could author the wikipedia entry:

I just discovered your blog today, and I do intend to read the archives soon, but I have a few quick questions which I hope you can answer.

How many distinct timelines do you have running? Is each one internally consistent? For each timeline, have you designated "points of departure" from our history (i.e. such as the Mlosh invasion in 1861)?

I have over a dozen distinct, recurring timelines. I haven't got them all separated - that will probably come when I collect all of 2004 into a book/.pdf download. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep track of them, too!

I think the search function that blogger added is far better than my efforts to keep things separate ever were. I do try to make sure that recurring timelines have a phrase or name that shows up in each entry; for instance, there's usually a reference to Mlosh in the Mlosh timeline. (They landed in 1720, not 1861, by the way).

TIAH Editor says we'd like to move you off the blog, if you're browsing the archives - and most people are - more than half of them are already on the new site. We need to be sure the new web site accomodates your archive browsing needs because we don't want to lose any readers. Please supply any feedback or comments by email to the Editor and please note the blogger site is shutting on December 1st.